Being more than “just a bog-standard knee”: the role of person-centred practice in physiotherapy: a narrative inquiry

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study was to understand how physiotherapeutic encounters were experienced over time by one service user and the extent to which the encounters were person-centred.

Methods

This narrative inquiry study had one participant purposively sampled due to their extensive experience of physiotherapy in healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. Data were collected through interviews and analysed using Clandinin and Connelly’s three-dimensional framework.

Results

Time-related aspects of physiotherapeutic encounters were noted in the evolutionary journey of physiotherapy practice. Personal and social aspects were evident in the words and attitude of the physiotherapists. The influence of place was noted in the role that external forces and the environment played in shaping how physiotherapy was experienced.

Conclusions

These narratives remind physiotherapists and healthcare providers to reflect on the role they play in shaping the experience of service users and whether those experiences are considered to be person, therapist, or institution centred. Those training pre-registration physiotherapy students need to consider giving students the opportunity to develop and reflect on their philosophy of practice early in the curriculum to enhance the experience of service users in the long-term.

IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION

• It is important for therapists to consider preconceived ideas of what a service user may want, and to listen to them as unique people, with a future journey ahead of them to understand what is truly important to them.

• Physiotherapists need to reflect on the role they play and the words they use in shaping the experience of care for service users, and whether this is perceived as being person or therapist centred.

• Physiotherapists who are more person-centred in practice were better placed to promote self-management of long-term conditions.

• Providing pre-registration physiotherapists with the opportunity to develop their own value-based philosophy of practice during training may enhance the experiences of their service users in the future.

Keywords:

• Physiotherapy
• person-centred practice
• patient-centred practice
• physiotherapists
• narrative inquiry

Acknowledgement

The authors wish to thank Louise for so generously sharing her time and stories.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was partially supported by the Musculoskeletal Association of Chartered Physiotherapists to provide funding for the cost of the interview transcription.